What he was looking for, he found. The shooting legend of Baník Ostrava got the job of his dreams

The indoor pool in Brušperk, a small town with four thousand inhabitants located in the Beskydy foothills, offers three 25-meter swimming lanes, a children’s wading pool, a water slide, places for relaxation and rest.

Among the employees, in addition, one of the personalities who wrote the history of Czechoslovak football. Ostrava forward Václav Daňek, who is the only Czech forward who can boast of having scored a bronze boot in the competition of the European league gunners.

The idea that from the position of a lifeguard he dazzles beautiful visitors with his athletic figure still jumps out, even if a look at his identity card shows that he has six crosses. It is not so. “I’m a machinist,” he reveals his job title. And adds to its fulfillment. “I take care of the water heating, the technical condition, the hygiene regulations are very strict,” he reveals what he does.

He easily dispels doubts as to whether he can handle professional work in this way. “I’m a chemist, I studied chemical engineering in Ostrava,” he says, proving that he didn’t just waste his teenage years on the playground.

He had a falling out with the director of the sports complex, which is run by his hometown of Brušperk, but belongs to school facilities, in 2015, when an indoor swimming pool was built alongside the existing sports facilities. “The multi-purpose hall is well-known, where the Jistebník futsal team plays championship matches, it is praised by handball players, but it can be rented and used by organizations and the public,” he says, attracting sports-loving fellow citizens.

He found in Brušperk what he had been looking for in vain for years – contentment. “I can organize my time as I want, go to the matches I want, not always worry if I accidentally lose my job,” he recalls of the period when he was trying to establish himself as a coach of professional teams. “Two bad results were enough and I was in danger of being dismissed, or the new owner was suspending me if I didn’t have a high contract, there was still something,” he says, referring to the camps in Vítkovice, Banská Bystrica, Fulnek and Hlučín. “Now I am the master of my time and I am satisfied,” he boasts. “If I don’t want to, I don’t even have to go among people,” he won’t leave his machine kingdom.

Plus, it’s close to family. “The wife at the school who runs the pool works as a housekeeper,” he points out as one big advantage. He knows that he didn’t enjoy it much during an active football career filled with foreign teams.

Especially in the flurry of matches, national team meetings and football duties, it slipped through his fingers how quickly the children developed. “I only had a little time for them during my engagement in Austria, but Hon and Bára were already going to school,” he sighs.

But the grandchildren won’t cheat anymore. “Bára and her husband live with us in Brušperk in the family house, their daughter, five-year-old Viktorka, just stares at what grandpa has achieved on the field,” he shows her the trophies he has won, which he has on display at home.

However, he cannot polish the most valuable, bronze football boot. “They haven’t given it to me yet, the French newspaper l’Équipe owes it to me, and I played in France in Le Havre in Normandy a year after it was shot,” points out Daněk.

The competition was going through a crisis, many players from the Eastern European bloc were conquering it, and their opponents helped them to rest. “After all, Darko Pančev from Crvena Zvezda Belgrade, who won the gold at the time, outshot me in the last five matches, the Turkish striker Tanju Çolak from Galatasaray Istanbul took the silver,” the Czech gunner points to the grievance that has remained in his soul even years later.

It is not surprising that it was in 1991 that the competition was temporarily canceled before more fair criteria were introduced, which protect it more from pranksters.

The bronze treasure is therefore missing in the private hall of fame, but for example the high cup for the top scorer of the Czechoslovak league for the year 1986/1987 is taken out with a bang. “That Viktorka can polish,” she willingly entrusts the valuables to her granddaughter.

Even after the sword, however, Daňk’s family (perhaps even the football family) will not die out. Son Jan took care of the continuation, five-year-old Vašík is very smart. “He has talent, he’s smart,” the grandfather sees in him. “It’s another Václav Daněk,” he relishes the idea of ​​how the famous name will return to European lawns. Two-year-old Andělka can join her cousin and polish her grandfather’s trophies. My son’s family doesn’t live far away, in Opava, they visit their grandparents often.

And the former gunner can also be seen on the field. “I play for the old guard of Baník, which was not very viable for a while, but led by Petr Zajaroš, it has woken up again,” he welcomes the opportunity to change clothes with former club teammates in the same dressing room.

He also meets his national team colleagues at the matches of the Football International Club, which is led by Štěpán Phillipp as manager. “At them, I talk to Franta Štambacher, Jirka Ondra and others whom I otherwise don’t have the opportunity to meet,” says the native of Moravia. And he looks forward to the next match in Staré Jičín with pleasure.

He would no longer train adults, but he likes to pass on his experience to youth. “At the Baník academy, I conduct individual training sessions with forwards aged 16 to 18,” he says of his involvement. And he discovers a generational clash. “Their thinking has gone one hundred and eighty degrees,” he observed. “Today, the player will tell you – coach, there are a lot of centers, it will give us a headache. They don’t like this, then that,” he finds a different approach.

“We couldn’t behave like that,” he says, referring to his footballing years. “I went into the match with a freshly stitched six-centimeter scar on my head,” he recalls. “I was sixteen, the tournament was played on cinder blocks, it was raining, but I wouldn’t have dared to tell the coach that I wasn’t going to head because my head was sewn up,” he wouldn’t dare to resist. “We were different,” he emphasizes.

This applies not only to moral qualities, but also to skills. “Today, boys know finesse, they study them on the Internet, but the first touch during processing is a problem for them,” points out Daněk. “I am extremely grateful to all the coaches who guided me in Baník when I was young, and especially to coach Evžen Hadamczik, who took me to adulthood,” he says, sending words of gratitude to the heavens. “But he was giving us a hard time. He took me and Verner Lička, who was six years older than me, already a top scorer, after training and spent thirty minutes centering balls at us, we worked them on our chests, tried all kinds of kicks on goal,” he describes. “Then they praised us – you are amazing, nobody in the country has such processing. Why not when we’ve done it maybe a million times!” he realizes how valid this drill was.

However, he does not lead his charges in a similar way. “I want help for boys, I want to give them advice,” he reveals his creed. “There are those who are serious about it and want to get ahead. For example, Matyáš Bitta, who plays for the under-19 team and is two years younger,” finds an individual who knows what football entails. “However, he has problems with his knees because he probably grew up quickly,” he regrets about his pupil’s certain health limitations.

However, not everyone is so aware. “There were also those who were eighteen, spoke to the manager and already saw themselves in Juventus Turin or AC Milan. When I told them – you’re doing this wrong, come on, let’s practice it, they were already bragging because the people around them assured them how good they are,” sighs Daněk.

He found his life and football happiness. “I do what I like, what I want. If I want to go to football, I go, I choose, I don’t have to,” he praises how it all came together.